Employment Law

February 25, 2013Comments Off on Taxation – IRA funded by state retirement account not taxable

Distributions from a private IRA that was funded solely from a nontaxable 403(b) retirement account are not subject to Michigan income tax. Plaintiff’s decedent, Magen, retired from Michigan State University. “While employed, Magen contributed to a 403(b) retirement account sponsored ...

On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the July 3, 2012 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is granted. The parties shall include among the issues to be briefed: (1) whether, regardless ...

February 11, 2013Comments Off on Employment – Plaintiff entitled to judgment in WPA case

A jury verdict for a whistleblower plaintiff is reinstated because there was sufficient evidence that the proffered reason for her discharge, budgetary concerns, was a pretext for retaliation by her employer, a county board of commissioners, after she criticized the ...

January 30, 2013Comments Off on Employment – Medical advisor approval needed to get state disability retirement

A state employee is not eligible for a nonduty disability retirement under MCL 38.24 unless a medical advisor to the State Employees Retirement Board certifies that the employee is totality and permanently disabled. Because the plaintiff in case lacked such ...

January 30, 2013Comments Off on Employment – Disability claim not ripe for resolution

Where defendant refused to allow plaintiff to file a claim for disability benefits on the basis that plaintiff was employed by an affiliate company, not defendant, the court finds that the ERISA plan administrator is the proper entity to determine ...

Plaintiff’s “reverse discrimination” claims brought under state and federal law were correctly dismissed because she did not establish a prima facie case. Plaintiff Martinez says she was fired from her manager’s job at a Cracker Barrel restaurant because she was ...

January 17, 2013Comments Off on Constitutional Law – Extension of state health care benefits constitutional

A gender-neutral policy that extends state health care benefits to an individual sharing a household with a state employee does not violate the Michigan Marriage Amendment, Const 1963, art 1, § 25. “The underlying gravamen of plaintiff’s challenge is that ...

January 16, 2013Comments Off on Employment – Failure of proof in equal pay retaliation claim

Defendant hospital is granted summary judgment of a hospital supervisor’s claim that she was discharged for asserting her rights under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act. Plaintiff consistently asked for pay raises in a series of emails, reasoning that ...

January 15, 2013Comments Off on Employment – Deaf teen not hired as lifeguard states ADA claim

The federal district court erred by granting defendant summary judgment of a deaf teenager’s claims that defendant’s failure to hire him as a lifeguard violated federal disability discrimination laws. There are disputed issues about whether plaintiff, Nicholas Keith, was otherwise qualified ...

Where plaintiff was discharged for excessive absences, defendant employer is not entitled to summary judgment of her claim brought under the Family and Medical Leave Act. There is a material dispute whether defendant correctly calculated the amount of FMLA leave ...